Anthony Mackie, Jennifer Connelly & Paul Bettany Discuss Making 'Shelter' & the State of Homelessness in NYC

Earlier this week, New York City Police Commissioner Bill Bratton decided to share his personal remedy on conquering the astronomical homeless problem in New York City. Bratton said, “My best advice to the citizens of New York City: If this is so upsetting to you, don’t give. One of the quickest ways to get rid of them is not to give to them.”

Ambivalence and lack of compassion have helped foster the present state of homelessness not only across this country, but also around the globe. Though many of us pass by homeless people on a near daily basis, they often become invisible to us. Like a fire hydrant or some other sidewalk fixture, they are present but unseen. In his new film “Shelter” Director Paul Bettany gives voice to two homeless people that used to live outside of his apartment building.

Bettany recently sat down with the stars of “Shelter”, Jennifer Connelly and Anthony Mackie, to discuss the state of homelessness in NYC, preparation for the film, and what they all learned from this eye-opening experience. Here are some of the highlights.

On The Global Homeless Crisis

Paul Bettany: It’s no coincidence that Tahir is an illegal immigrant and a Nigerian Muslim. Nobody was talking about Boko Haram that I knew of three years ago, no one was talking about the refugee crisis three years ago. I simply don’t understand the refugee crisis.  The history of humanity can be told through a story of migration and settlement. If I can’t protect my family, I’m coming to where you are; I’m just coming. It’s a round world, and we’ve all got to get on with it and move on. What frightens me is when you hear the rhetoric of  [Donald] Trump and then his ratings go up.

On Choosing To Highlight Certain Issues The Homeless Face

PB: Well first off, when I started writing the film it wasn’t about homelessness, it was about judgment. I feel like the world we live in seems to be full of an increasingly grey area, but the culture that we live in seems to be getting really entrenched in black and white positions, and I think it’s urgent to talk about that because it’s going to kill us all. Before it was about homelessness, I wanted the film to be a romance. I wanted it to be about two people who are unforgivable on paper, and then make you forgive them. My experience of people is that they are infinitely forgivable.

On The Homeless Couple That Inspired the Film

PB: Around the same time I wanted to make a film about judgment, Hurricane Sandy hit New York City.  Before the hurricane, a homeless couple lived outside my apartment building. They were a black man and a white woman, and I would see them everyday. My children would say hello to them, they would say hello to us and that was the extent of it. I’m ashamed to say that day by day, their poverty became more acceptable to me and they became invisible before they actually despaired. And then, Hurricane Sandy hit and I never saw them again. We were in mandatory evacuation of our area, and they used to live in this tiny little park. I noticed they seemed to complain a lot less about their circumstances than I did, and I admired that. When I didn’t see them anymore, I felt the instinct to write about them. However, I didn’t know who they were, so I thought it might be a very good way to discuss judgment, because I find that our response to homelessness really puzzlingly. It’s a peculiar response that people have.

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Image: Shelter/Screen Media Fims

Urbanworld Review: Jamal Joseph Tackles Cycles and Second Chances in 'Chapter &Verse'

So much of what ails the Black American community occurs in cycles. Blatant and institutionalized racism has led to poverty, mass incarceration, gang violence, and so may other problematic issues. Unfortunately, these problems occur time and time again, because the root of what is broken remains unfixed.

Produced by acclaimed director Antoine Fuqua, Jamal Joseph's "Chapter & Verse" is a film about terrible cycles, chances of redemption, and most importantly, it’s a film about fatherhood in the Black community.

Compassionately played by actor Daniel Beaty, (who also co-wrote the screenplay with Jamal Joseph), the film follows S. Lance Ingram aka Crazy L from 118th, on his quest for a fresh start. Newly released from prison after an eight year sentence, Lance has returned home to Harlem, NY; a neighborhood that has been drastically transformed since his initial imprisonment. Harlem was once a neighborhood fully of violence and impoverishment; ramifications form the crack cocaine epidemic and the War on Drugs. However, gentrification has quickly given much of the area a complete overhaul.  Living in a halfway house, Lance attempts to get work by using the computer technology skills that he’s acquired in prison. Instead, he is only able to find employment at a soup pantry, washing dishes and delivering meals to those in need.

On one of his runs, Lance encounters Miss Mandy (played exceptionally by veteran actress Loretta Devine) and the duo strike up an unlikely friendship. As Lance works to redefine himself in society, and make the best of his second chance, he continually encounters Miss Mandy's troubled 15-year old grandson Ty, who is involved in the small but dangerous Harlem street gang, The Runners.

Since Miss Mandy can’t seem to get through to Ty, Lance takes it upon himself to try and show the angry young man some direction. He understands all too well the path that Ty is going down, and he tries desperately to get him to walk away. What is poignant about Lance and Ty’s relationship are the quiet moments. They observe one another often. Ty unwittingly looks to Lance as a guide, an example of manhood, while Lance is constantly considering how he should approach Ty. It’s a dynamic that is often glossed over when discussing the relationship between Black men and boys. And yet, Joseph captures it perfectly onscreen.

Continue reading at Shadow and Act.

Image: Chapter & Verse Film

Urbanworld Review: In 'Romeo Is Bleeding' Shakespeare’s Tragedy Unfolds in Richmond, CA

"Violence is beyond flesh, it's spiritual."- Donté Clark

Most people are first introduced to Shakespeare in high school. As teenagers, we sat hunched over our desks trying to make sense of 16th century prose. More often than not, it felt like a bunch of archaic language mixed in with some incomprehensible jargon, until we were finally able to grasp the stories and the nature of the words.

Jason Zeldes’ “Romeo Is Bleeding” is the story of Donté Clark, a young educator, activist, poet and resident of Richmond, California. After rereading Shakespeare’s “Romeo + Juliet”, Clark realizes that the same strife that happens in the classic story, is also happening outside of his window.

Richmond, California is bleeding, hemorrhaging actually. North and Central Richmond have been at war for years, and people are being slaughtered in the streets on a daily basis. Donté Clark stands in the midst of this, desperate for change. Growing up in North Richmond with seven brothers and sisters, Clark's goal was to become the biggest drug dealer in the Bay Area. But, his goals shifted when his teacher, Molly Raynor, introduced him to Richmond’s "Making Waves" college preparatory program, where he discovered his most powerful weapon, his voice.

The documentary follows Clark as he rewrites Shakespeare’s tragedy into his own adaption, one that he hopes will bring together the youth of Central and North Richmond. Clark also enlists his students from his program RAW Talent (Richmond Artists With Talent), where he serves as artistic director, to help him write and put on the play, which he names, “Té’s Harmony”.

For the first quarter of the film, there were a ton of aerial shots of Richmond, along with flashy stylistic choices that really weren't needed. As the audience tries to get to know Clark and the world that he lives in, these over the top film techniques constantly jerked us out of the story. Luckily, as the film pressed forward, this calmed down considerably, letting the audience focus on Clark (who is extremely compelling) and the others involved in the RAW talent program.

For six months, RAW prepares “Té’s Harmony,” for the stage. Clark writes the dialogue, while his students write the monologues for their individual characters. They all come together numerous times for workshop sessions. During these workshops, we come to know more about Molly (Clark’s mentor) Deandre Evans, his protégé, and D’Neise Robinson who plays Harmony opposite Clark in the play. Evans especially seems adamant about running from a fate that so many of his friends have fallen to.

Continue reading at Shadow and Act.

Image: Romeo is Bleeding Film

Urbanworld Review: '3 1/2 Minutes, 10 Bullets' is a Gut-Wrenching Tale of Two Parents’ Determination to Seek Justice

Perhaps you've marched and rallied in the various #BlackLivesMatters protests over the past several years, or you're possibly connected to the thousands of gun violence victims and their families. Maybe you've watched the stories on television and read about them in the newspapers or on the Internet. Whatever your involvement, surely Trayvon Martin, Eric Garner, Sandra Bland and Jordan Davis’ names mean something to you.

For Jordan Davis’ parents especially, his name meant everything. “3 1/2 Minutes, 10 Bullets” is Jordan Davis’ story, it's a heartbreaking tale of two parents desperately seeking justice for their child. In 2012 on Black Friday, Jordan Davis was in a parking lot with two friends waiting for a third to come out of a gas station. The boys were relaxing in the car, blasting their music, and enjoying the early evening in Jacksonville, Florida. A white man named Michael Dunn decided that their music was too loud for him. Words were said, and 3 1/2 minutes later, Jordan Davis was dead.

The film opens with Jordan's parents, Ron Davis and Lucia “Lucy” McBath, discussing how they choose his name and moves through Michael Dunn’s murder trial, as the duo ban together to seek justice for their baby boy, who will be eternally 17 years old.  As if we were sitting in the courtroom ourselves, the audience becomes privy to inside information about the case. From very small details, like the time Davis last spoke to his girlfriend to Dunn's phone calls from prison to his fiancée, everything is slowly revealed. The audience hears from Davis' girlfriend, and the boys who were there on his last day. We learn who he was; that he was a terrible basketball player and a sharp dresser, and we get the smallest glimpses of the man he might have become. Davis was extremely close to his father, he was funny, loved, and outspoken. Throughout the film Jordan Davis speaks directly to us, and we listen because his parents demand that he be heard.

Much of the film felt very much like an episode of “First 48” or another reality crime program.  Jordan's last moments become reduced to the things he did that day, to the clothes he was wearing, and what he allegedly said. It's a film that is not only deeply rooted in race, but also grounded in gun violence and Florida's absurd “stand your ground” laws. It’s about this law's inability to work properly within our system. After all, it's absurd and impossible to try and determine what another human being is thinking.

Continue reading at Shadow and Act.

Image: 3 1/2 Minutes, 10 Bullets Film

Ben Affleck Asked Henry Louis Gates to Hide Slave Owner Ancestry

Philosopher George Santayana once said, “Those who do not know history are doomed to repeat it.” Likewise those who choose to feign ignorance or turn a blind eye to the atrocities of our country’s past, will not expunge these injustices from the record book.

This past weekend, it was revealed that an episode of PBS’ Finding Your Roots starring Ben Affleck was edited because the actor did not want to reveal that one of his ancestors owned slaves. Instead, the episode, which aired October 14, 2014, focused on Affleck’s 3rd Great Grandfather who was an occult enthusiast as well as his mother’s advocacy during the Civil Rights movement.

According to messages leaked from the massive Sony email hack, Affleck asked Harvard Professor and Finding Your Roots host Henry Louis Gates to edit his family’s slave opening past out of the episode. The email reveals that Henry Louis Gates Jr., wrote to Sony USA chief Michael Lynton asking for advice:

Continue reading at Blavity.com